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October 31, 2016

THE “CBS EVENING NEWS WITH SCOTT PELLEY” LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN 2016 SERIES “CLOSING ARGUMENTS,” FEATURING ISSUE-BASED ORIGINAL REPORTING AND INTERVIEWS WITH VOTERS IN BATTLEGROUND STATES BEGINNING TONIGHT, OCT. 31

SCOTT PELLEY ANCHORS THE “CBS EVENING NEWS” LIVE FROM CLEVELAND, OHIO, TOMORROW, NOV. 1

THE “CLOSING ARGUMENTS” SERIES FEATURES A TOWNHALL DISCUSSION WITH MILLENNIAL VOTERS TO BE BROADCAST ON THE “CBS EVENING NEWS,” CBSN, CBSNEWS.COM AND YOUTUBE

The CBS EVENING NEWS WITH SCOTT PELLEY is launching “Closing Arguments,” a Campaign 2016 multi-part series that will feature issue-based original reporting from across the U.S. and abroad as well as interviews with voters in battleground states as Election Day approaches. The series begins tonight, Oct. 31, on the CBS EVENING NEWS WITH SCOTT PELLEY (6:30-7:00 PM, ET) on the CBS Television Network.

As the race continues to tighten, every night leading up to Election Day, Pelley and a team of CBS News correspondents will explore the issues voters care about and talk to them about their choices of candidates. CBS News correspondents will also report from Russia and Mexico about the roles those countries have played in Campaign 2016.

“As Campaign 2016 moves into its final days, we are speaking directly to voters to hear their thoughts, concerns and hopes for the critical issues facing our country,” said Steve Capus, executive producer of the CBS EVENING NEWS WITH SCOTT PELLEY and executive editor of CBS News. “We have generated reporting grounded in specific issues and of importance to various groups of American voters. Far beyond the horse race, CBS News—as always—takes a unique, fresh look at what's informing the voters' decisions with in-depth, original reporting.”

The Campaign 2016 “Closing Arguments” series includes:

Monday, Oct. 31: Pennsylvania and the Gender Gap

  • Jim Axelrod reports from Pennsylvania, a state where the gap between male and female voters is wide and where white men could decide the next president. Axelrod speaks with Republicans about the divide within the GOP electorate and explores why there is a disdain for both candidates.
Tuesday, Nov. 1: Ohio—Trump’s Must Win?

  • Pelley anchors the CBS EVENING NEWS live from Cleveland, Ohio, and provides insight into the attitudes of voters. Among the steel mills, suburbs and inner city of Cleveland, Pelley found a political identity crisis as voters continue to fight over which candidate should be the next president.
  • Michelle Miller reports from the suburbs of Cincinnati, talking to voters about the latest Clinton email controversy. Will the new FBI investigation influence the way they will vote
  • Chip Reid speaks with small business owners in Ohio, who have lined up behind their candidates. Reid interviews a candy shop owner in the swing county of Sandusky and a bed and breakfast owner in Bellevue about the candidates’ economic proposals, focusing on minimum wage and taxes.
  • Mark Strassmann also reports from across the state on the large number of television ads inundating voters and how, if at all, that ad blitz is influencing their decision-making process.
Wednesday, Nov. 2: Millennials—The Change Agents?

  • Elaine Quijano interviews millennial voters from 12 states, six of them battlegrounds, to discuss the issues that matter to them the most. The participants, ages 18-34, reflect a multitude of racial and cultural backgrounds. Many of these voters will cast a ballot for the first time, and the town-hall-style conversation will provide a window into the future of the changing U.S. electorate. The interviews took place at YouTube Space NY, a 20,000-square-foot collaborative production facility where YouTube creators can produce their own videos for free. The panel discussion, which also includes questions from Twitter users, airs on CBSNews.com and CBSN, CBS News’ 24/7 streaming news service. An expanded version of the town hall also airs on CBS News’ YouTube channel.
Thursday, Nov. 3: Florida—Seniors See a Disappearing America

  • Mark Strassmann reports from The Villages, a retirement community in Sumter County, Florida, where an important group of voters are actively campaigning for their individual candidates for a variety of reasons including their positions on social security and retirement issues.
Friday, Nov. 4: Arizona, The Unlikely Battleground, and Russia

  • John Blackstone interviews business owners in Arizona about the candidates’ immigration policy proposals.
  • Elizabeth Palmer reports from Moscow on the tension between Russia and the United States as Russian hacking groups stand accused of meddling in the election in an unpresented way by allegedly stealing Democratic National Committee emails and voter registration lists.
Monday, Nov. 7: Mexico

  • Manuel Bojorquez reports from Mexico on the threat that the NAFTA trade agreement may end and explores what’s at stake for workers and small business owners regardless of who wins the presidency.
Steve Capus is the executive producer of the CBS EVENING NEWS WITH SCOTT PELLEY and executive editor of CBS News.

The CBS EVENING NEWS has grown its audience for six consecutive seasons, a first time achievement for a network evening news broadcast since the advent of people meters in 1987. Under Pelley, the CBS EVENING NEWS also finished the 2015-2016 television season with the broadcast’s highest ratings in 10 years and has earned journalism’s most prestigious honors, including the George Foster Peabody Award, an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award, two George Polk Awards, six Emmys, 13 Edward R. Murrow Awards and a host of additional honors.
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Press Contact:

Lance Frank